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ZywOo vs s1mple To Battle It Out For Pro League Title

Mohd Laraib
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ZywOo vs s1mple To Battle It Out For Pro League Title

Natus Vincere will face off with Team Vitality in a Best of 5 Grand Final for the ESL Pro League Season 14 crown. This will be a rematch of the IEM Beijing 2020 Grand Final where Team Vitality reversed swept NaVi 3-2 to take home the trophy.

Team Vitality was arguably the most successful team of 2020 and perhaps the only team to implement the 6-man roster well in tier 1 CS, with the addition of Scream’s brother ‘Nivera’. But 2021 hasn’t been so kind to them, especially with the retirement of ‘RpK’ and adding rookie ‘Kyojin’ to the lineup. On the contrary, NaVi have only gone from strength to strength after losing 2 Best of 5 Grand Finals in 2020.

They have undoubtedly been the best team of 2021, with only Gambit managing to put up a fair fight against them. But as of late, there has been only 1 clear winner and it is NaVi.

ESL Pro League Season 14 is where Vitality have shown hints of their 2020 form, with each member holding their own against the best teams and of course, world #1 for 2 years on the trot Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut playing lights out this event. He is the second highest-rated player of the event with a 1.34 rating second only to Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev who sports a 1.39 rating.

Rightly termed A clash of titans, NaVi will surely be looking to take their revenge versus ‘apeX’ and co. and also aim for the Intel Grand Slam, becoming the third team after Astralis in 2018 and Team Liquid in 2019 to bag the title and the $1,000,000 prize pool to boot.

This would be the third final on the trot for Valeriy ‘B1T’ Vakhovskiy ever since he joined the roster, while the rookie on the other side Jayson Nguyen ‘Kyojin’ Van will be playing his first ever tier 1 final.

The winner of ESL Pro League will take home $195,000 in prize money as well as a spot in the BLAST Premier World Final 2021. If Natus Vincere do manage to take the crown, they’ll also take the $1 million prize that comes with the Intel Grand Slam.

Will ‘s1mple’ reign supreme as he has been all year, or will ‘ZywOo’ take the cake this time? Only one way to find out, at the ESL Pro League Season 14 Grand Final.

s1mple trolls Heroic in Post-Match Interview

Mohd Laraib
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0
s1mple trolls Heroic in Post-Match Interview

After beating Heroic 2:1 in the Semi-final of ESL Pro League, in what was their toughest game yet, Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev didn’t shy away from taking a dig at the Danish org in a tongue in cheek interview.

Natus Vincere managed to survive the scare that was Heroic, in a series that went on for 89 rounds out of a possible 90 and the Ukrainian top fragged with 92 frags. In a post-interview with Tres ‘stunna’ Saranthus, s1mple was asked if he wanted to say anything of note about the team he just beat. He replied with a clever “Oh, just…..WHO?” with a laugh, keeping in mind the accusations the Organisation and the players have been facing over the last few weeks.

He did go on to complement their skills on the server and how well prepared they had been under the leadership of Casper ‘Cadian’ Muller. It took NaVi 3 maps, with scorelines of 16:14, 13:16 and 16:14 to close out the series and ensure their spot in the Grand Final.

The comment from s1mple was a joke at the probable disbandment of the org, considering they have already lost all sponsors, are in a legal battle with their ex-coach and where their players are under cheating accusations from said coach. Their troubles outside of the server are never-ending but their preparedness were impressive, s1mple rightly noted.

NaVi will take on Team Vitality today to take home the ESL Pro League title as well as the Intel Grand Slam and a million dollars in prize money.

New Valorant Map Fracture Might Be Receiving Changes Soon

Sonu Banerjee
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New Valorant Map Fracture Might Be Receiving Changes Soon

While it hasn’t been long since Valorant’s newest map, Fracture, made its debut in the tactical shooter, it looks like it’s already in for an overhaul.

Fracture is undoubtedly the most unique map Riot Games has introduced to Valorant as of yet. Featuring an H-shaped layout unlike any other Valorant map, Fracture enables both attackers and defenders to adopt a variety of new strats due to the attackers spawning on either side of the sites.

Fracture was introduced to Valorant alongside the Episode 3 Act 2 update on September 9, 2021. The map was swift to garner the attention of Valorant players worldwide due to its unique concept and interesting map design. 

However, it seems like that in a recent PBE update, Riot has already started testing out new changes to Fracture to help balance out certain areas of the map.  For instance, the tunnel to Generator/Canteen areas can no longer be wall banged. One of the crates on the B site is also no longer penetrable, making it easier to plant or defuse spikes planted behind it.

It’s unclear whether these changes will make their way to the live servers, but fans can choose to check out the PBE patch notes here.

KAYO Likely to Receive Buffs in Valorant, Devs Confirm

Sonu Banerjee
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KAYO Likely to Receive Buffs in Valorant, Devs Confirm

It hasn’t been long since Valorant’s newest agent, KAY/O was added to the shooter, but it’s already evident that the initiator is quite underwhelming when compared to the other agents in the category. KAY/O is currently occupying the second-last position on the agent rankings with a measly 43.6% win rate in ranked games, only ahead of the Japanese duelist Yoru. His pick rate isn’t impressive either, and he’s sitting ahead of Astra, Breach and Yoru at 11.2%.

While the Yoru rework has been confirmed to have been indefinitely delayed, KAY/O might not experience the same treatment. In fact, a Valorant developer has confirmed that KAY/O is likely to receive buffs in the near future due to his weak performance in ranked matchmaking.

“Kayo’s weak in matchmaking. Likely needs buffs – we’re investigating,” Riot developer Coleman ‘Altombre’ Palm confirmed on a Reddit thread after stating their plans on the highly anticipated Yoru rework.

Comment
by u/Altombre from discussion VALORANT Patch Notes 3.05
in VALORANT

While the date of arrival of a KAY/O buff is still no clearer from the dev’s comment, it goes on to show that the dev team has taken note of the agent’s weaknesses and are planning to ship out updates accordingly to keep the game balanced.

Alongside this, Altombre also confirmed that Yoru buffs might still be on the table for a future Valorant update.

“We have changes we want to make, we just need resources from other teams to make them happen,” Altombre said in the post. “When balance changes are just numbers tweaks, we can take it on ourselves – when we have to involve other disciplines (animation, VFX, etc. etc.) it takes time to incorporate it into their already-busy schedule.”

Riot Games Expands Women-Only VCT Game Changers Programme To EMEA

Bharat Kotwani
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Riot Games Expands Women-Only VCT Game Changers Programme To EMEA

Following the triumphs of Cloud9 White, Dignitas Female, and Counter Logic Gaming Red in North America, the Valorant Champions Tour circuit now plans on to venture their Game Changers Initiative in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Region. 

The VCT Game Changers initiative is exclusively dedicated to female-led Valorant rosters and have further decided to launch their tournament circuits in the EMEA region, in a bid to bolster their chances towards the VCT powered events. 

Earlier, VCT Game Changers was just a stand-alone event in North America with Cloud9 White having won both the iterations of the same. With $50,000 USD up for grabs, the winner takes away a lion’s share of $20,000 from the total prize money.

Alexandra LePlante, Event Manager for Riot Games, stated,

We’re very excited to announce the expansion of VCT Game Changers to the EMEA region, and we’re proud of how this initiative has helped create a competitive ecosystem that is more representative of the diverse VALORANT community.

As said, Riot has now considered expanding their VCT Game Changers initiative into the EMEA region and would host three events, with the first one to be held on September 27 while the latter two scheduled in October and November. 

EMEA VCT Game Changers schedule

  • Series #1 : September 27, 2021
    • Total Prize Pool : $20,000 USD
  • Series #2 : October 25-31, 2021
    • Total Prize Pool : $20,000 USD
  • Series #3 : November 15-21, 2021
    • Total Prize Pool : $50,000 USD

The eligibility to participate in the EMEA VCT Game Changers event would be, players should have attained at least Platinum 1 rank in the previous/ongoing act. The second iteration will see teams transitioning to a Co-ed group, consisting of at least 3 women on the active roster.

Vera Wienken, Riot Games’ Brand Manager and leader of the VCT Game Changers EMEA initiative, also added,

Right now, the esports industry is suffering from a severe lack of female representation at the pro level. If we want to inspire more women to pursue their esports dreams, we need to take direct action to make these games more accessible and create a level playing field for them to enter in years to come. We want VCT Game Changers EMEA to be that stepping stone for women.

To know more about the VCT Game Changers EMEA Initiative, click here.

CSGO skin Rarity: All you need to know

Bharat Kotwani
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CSGO skin Rarity: All you need to know

Earlier in July, Valve introduced the Steam Workshop contests where the developers had announced a whopping million-dollar contest for skin artists in CSGO across the globe.

Dubbed as the Dreams & Nightmares contest, the $1 million dollars will be divided into 10 winners who manage to create the best dream or nightmare-themed CSGO weapon skins for the contest. The winning entries would each receive $100,000 with their creations to be featured in the upcoming weapon cases. It was undoubtedly the biggest art contest ever seen and drew in some unique and gorgeous skin designs for the various kinds of CSGO weapons.

Ahead of this contest, Valve provided the artists a handbook to be followed, while working on their designs and the rarity to be developed around. We can also call this handbook a style guide, to be taken into account. 

Mil-Spec rarity

This is the most frequent rarity ever to be acquired from a case unboxing. Marked with the color blue, they can also be easily obtained through Trade Up contracts along with case unboxings and you can find them on the market more frequently than the others. The designs of these kinds are a little tough to spot but can be identified when brought near.

Restricted Rarity

Restricted weapon skins may or sometimes may not match the price of a Case key but have a sweet corner when it comes to skin trading or getting listed on the market. They do look decent aesthetic wise and players do often stan them in their matches.

Classified Rarity

Weapon skins with the Classified Skin rarity are considered to be rare and most expensive when you unbox a weapon case. They are embedded with vibrant color patterns and designs which would attract anyone’s attention when dropped.

Extraordinary Rarity: Rare Special Item

You should really count on your stars while unboxing a weapon case as an item with Extraordinary Rarity would either fetch you a Knife or a glove (Exclusive to Glove cases). These are the ultimate exotics one can ever lay their hands on in the game. As said, a Rare special item from weapon cases except cases would fetch you a knife while a Glove case would fetch you a pair of gloves. 

Recommended | Cloud9 release floppy

Cloud9 release floppy

Bharat Kotwani
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Cloud9 release floppy

Ricky “floppy” Kemery and Cloud9 have mutually parted ways, the North American Organization announced on their Twitter handle. This puts an end to the year and a half stint of the player with the Los-Angeles Based side. In a TwitLonger, floppy speaks about burnout, he has suffered from competing and now “lacks purpose” to further commit.

floppy was initially a part of the Colossus, a CSGO project which was handled and run by Henry “HenryG” Greer before the initiative was stalled as Cloud9 decided to put their Counter Strike plans on hold. Kemery was brought aboard by Cloud9 as a part of the ATK’s CSGO squad whom the organization had acquired at the start of January 2020. Since then, he played under the banner of C9 until he decided to continue with the team for their European re-build later in September. In April 2021, Cloud9 decided to put their CSGO division on hold, citing financial issues and the inability to locate the team to the United States Of America due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic.

This eventually led floppy to retire from CSGO and join Cloud9 Blue Valorant alongside Erick “Xeppaa” Bach. After playing under Cloud9’s banner for a plethora of tournaments, we saw the former sit out of the VCT Stage 3 hinting towards a potential roster change in the Cloud9 Blue camp. The signing of Anthony “vanity” Malaspina to Cloud9 Blue’s active squad poured concrete on floppy’s fate within the organization as the former stressed upon using a five-man roster for their future tournament in an exclusive interview with Dexerto. 

Cloud9 Blue Valorant are now:

  • Mitch “mitch” Semago
  • Nathan “leaf” Orf
  • Son “xeta” Seon-ho
  • Erick “Xeppaa” Bach
  • Anthony “vanity” Malaspina
  • Michael “poiz” Possi
  • Yoon “Autumn” Eu-ddeum (윤으뜸) (Head coach)
  • James “JamezIRL” Macaulay (Assistant coach)

Recommended | NaVi Brush ENCE Aside in 2, End up in 4th consecutive Semi Final

Epic Games Loses Lawsuit Against Apple, But Dents the Walled Garden

Prateek Jain
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Epic Games Loses Lawsuit Against Apple, But Dents the Walled Garden

A federal judge on Friday (10th Sept) struck down Epic’s lawsuit against Apple and gave its final verdict in favor of Apple on all accounts. While the loss from dealt a serious blow to Epic Games, the final verdict also instructed Apple to loosen its grip on payment methods on its store.

Back in August 2020, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple after the tech giant removed Fortnite from its Store for violating store policy by including 3rd party payment system in its app. The inclusion of a direct payment method reduced the price of V-bucks by 20% making it the most prominent method of payment. As a response to this Apple removed Fortnite from the Apple Store and also removed Epic’s developer account. 

In retaliation, Epic sought a legal route to end “Apple’s anti-competitive restrictions on mobile device marketplace.” and launched a hashtag ‘#FreeFortnite’ calling out its player base to take action against “Big Tech”. They also released a short clip on YouTube mocking Apple using Apple’s own old Advertisement.

But all of this was nearly 12 months ago and the final verdict of the Epic Vs Apple lawsuit is finally here and it’s Epic’s loss. While Apple won the lawsuit on all accounts, the Californian judge said Apple violated California’s laws against unfair competition by barring app developers from directing customers to other ways to pay for their services and ordered Apple to start letting developers include links in their apps to other payment methods within 90 days. This is a big win for other app developers as they can get even more revenue from sales and bypass Apple’s 15-30% cut. 

The judge also said that Epic Games had overreached and Apple’s behavior was not monopolistic and the antitrust law doesn’t apply here. The verdict re-iterated the Oct 2020 verdict against Fortnite removal and said Epic had breached its contract with Apple when it allowed Fortnite users to pay it directly and thus removal of the app from the App Store is justified. 

Tim Sweeney, Epic’s chief executive, on Twitter expressed that he was not satisfied with the ruling and will fight on for “fair competition”.

“Today’s ruling isn’t a win for developers or for consumers. Epic is fighting for fair competition among in-app payment methods and app stores for a billion consumers.” 

PUBG Mobile becomes the most earning game in August 2021

The Crew
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PUBG Mobile becomes the most earning game in August 2021

Online gaming, all over the world is growing massively with billions of dollars generated by them. Be it PC games or Mobile games, both markets are the future of online gaming. According to the recent reports by Sensor Tower, PUBG Mobile has topped the list of top Grossing Mobile Games Worldwide for August 2021. The game earned approximately $270 million in player spending, which represented 4.7 percent growth from August 2020. About 61.4 percent of PUBG Mobile’s revenue was from China, where it has been localized as Game For Peace, followed by 9 percent from the United States and 6.5 percent from Turkey.

The second game in the overall grossing list was Honor of Kings. The game generated $256.2 million in gross revenue, which represented approximately 3 percent year-over-year growth from August 2020. About 95 percent of Honor of Kings’ revenue was from China, followed by 2 percent from Taiwan. The next top-grossing game was Genshin Impact from miHoYo, followed by Fate/Grand Order from Sony’s Aniplex and Pokémon GO from Niantic.

According to the reports, the global mobile market generated $7.7 billion from player spending across the App Store and Google Play in August 2021, marking an increase of 8.6 percent year-over-year.

Revenue based on Geography

Based on the geography, United States was the highest market for global revenue in August 2021 with approximately $2.1 billion, or 28 percent of total player spending worldwide. Japan was the second country with revenue at 20.8 percent, followed by China, where Google Play is not available, at 17.5 percent.

Based on the App Store revenue, Honor of Kings topped the list followed by PUBG Mobile and Genshin Impact. Garena Free Fire was nowhere in the top 10 App Store list but top the Google Play revenue list. PUBG Mobile was at the 8th position in the Google Play list.

Halo: Infinite’s next flight to take place on September 24

Mohammed Sadiq
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Halo: Infinite’s next flight to take place on September 24

Halo: Infinite’s last technical preview which took place earlier this July, was fairly successful. The technical preview featured two game modes, Bot Slayer and Weapon Drills. In Bot Slayer, players were pitted against increasingly difficult bots, whereas Weapons Drills featured a competitive, score-based shooting range.

On September 24, 343 will be conducting another technical preview but on a larger scale as it’ll be focused on 4v4 and large scale 12v12 multiplayer, and modes like Bot Slayer and Weapon Drills from the previous test will be returning. The goal of this multiplayer preview will be to gather feedback from all types of Halo players, newbies, and veterans alike.

All participants who register as a Halo Insider before September 13 will be eligible for the upcoming multiplayer preview, unlike the previous technical flight where a handful of Insiders were selected based on their flight history. 

Halo: Infinite’s campaign and free-to-play multiplayer is set to launch on December 8 for PC and Xbox One & Series S|X. 

Recommended | Halo Infinite release date, price, specifications and more details

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